Compliance and Document Management

A lot of compliance regulation focuses on the storage and security of documents. Whilst some Professional Document Management companies focus on the advantages of going paperless, in terms of the cost effective advantages of going without the same storage space needs for your business, security is another advantage to having documents scanned and stored by a third party.

Data Protection and Security Policy

An element of any security or data protection is the responsibility of the company and each will have their own policy, such as this example from an educational organisation discussing their approach to security and confidentiality in their documents. This is a policy which is informed by wider regulation, but implementation in some areas is down to the discretion of the individual company or organisation. In the example given above, security consists of avoiding leaving personal data in offices or areas accessible to members of the public. Data, the policy notes, must be kept as ‘securely as possible’. Whilst there is some room for interpretation here, the real threat of failure as far as data and document management is going to be a haemorrhaging of personal information or important documents.

In order to minimise this risk of data loss or a breach of security, document management through a professional service is one way to step up your internal policy when it comes to the security of your documents.

The Document Management Process

The process of transferring your documents from the physical paper notes which are held in storage in secure sites or locations within your office, to digital versions of these notes which are stored within either your own local system, or externally and accessed via a cloud is quite simple. The documents are organised and scanned into the document management system. Often at this point, character recognition tools are used. This allows for the archives of documents to be searched for particular terms after they’ve been scanned. Even if these are purely visual in their format, character recognition allows for them to be interpreted into the characters and words of which they comprise. This can mean much faster searches of your document archive, with searches that would take hours manually, taking just seconds. In an instance where documents are not in a condition that character recognition would recognise, they can be in putted manually by a typing bureau.

Once they exist in digital form, they can be accessed either by using secure cloud storage, or they can be stored securely on your own system. One real advantage to this method is the increased accountability it allows for access to the guarded information. As controlling the individuals who have access to documents and information is a key element of the regulation in this area, having different tiers of access to a digital document storage solution is one way to guard against documents being accessed by the wrong people. Similarly, the viewing of documents can be traced by the username which accessed it. This means that there is increased transparency and accountability when it comes to accessing of controlled documents.

Compliance with Tax Regulations

A final element of compliance to bear in mind is the requirement for documents to be held for fiscal purposes. For reasons of tax inspection, some documents are required to be help for anything up to seven years (inclusively), meaning that they could be requested at any point within that time. Having them securely stored at the click of a button ensures compliance with this demand and once they’re stored through scanning, the cost of physically holding these documents in a secure location isn’t any longer an ongoing cost, meaning many companies find it more cost efficient to use a document scanning and storage system in the long run.

Electrical contractor – your choice?

If you run your own business, employing any kind of contractor can represent a significant cost so to get the best value for money you need to choose a reliable electrical contractor who offers a high quality service at a reasonable price. Although this might sound too good to be true, it is possible -provided you know what to look for.

Pay less for your electrical contractor, and pay more later

When searching for an electrical contractor it can be very tempting to go for the cheapest quote. However, some businesses undercut on price but then fail to deliver on the project so regardless of the size of your project, you’ll end up paying twice: once for the shoddy workmanship and then again to have the workmanship repaired by another contractor.

The best way to avoid this pitfall is to think carefully about whether the contractors you have shortlisted have a proven track record: are they happy to give you a couple of references and is there any feedback about them on public media? The proposal they submit can also be a useful indicator of their expertise and any contractor worth their salt will give you a considered, detailed proposal which includes a thorough analysis of your requirements. Don’t immediately disregard quotes which are more expensive as you many find that you’re more satisfied with the outcome.

Design and build can offer a cost-effective solution

If you’re considering a major installation project, considering a contractor that has the expertise to fit the installation but to maintain and design it too can help to reduce costs significantly. Not only will the help to reduce costs but you’ll also find that your project is handled in a cohesive way and you’ll only have one point of contact to deal with should any problems or issues arise. Opting for a design and build contractor will not only help to reduce pressure upon the project manager, you’ll also find that the project itself runs more smoothly as the whole solution is thought through by all involved.

Best practice is important

Industry standards are there to protect you and with this in mind you should check that the electrical contractor you choose has the relevant qualifications. There are a number of schemes including NICEIC and ECA, for example. Reputable electrical contractors like DualTec will be recognised under an industry standard scheme and shows that they are committed to providing an excellent level of service and expertise.

Choosing an electrical contractor you can rely on

Whist quality is undoubtedly very important; a contractor who can deliver a project on time and on budget is worth their weight in gold. Project creep can cause no end of problems, not least in spiralling costs, so check customer reviews to see if there’s ever been an issue with the contractor you’re considering using. Remember that a decent electrical contractor will not only take care over a project, they’ll make sure it’s completed on time too. We would recommend that you visit www.dualtec.co.uk

Advice on Approaching Global Regulatory Compliance

With the spotlight shining brightly on Environmental H&S compliance, companies are challenged with finding effective ways to address the complexities and intricacies of EH&S compliance management. Not only do these challenges stem from a constantly-changing regulatory landscape, but also from a scarcity of newcomers to the EH&S field, and pressure on EH&S departments to manage increased responsibility with fewer resources.

softwareAddressing these issues requires broad and deep domain expertise—expertise that doesn’t always exist within the company. And if it does, this expertise is probably best utilized by driving the company’s overall compliance strategy, not bogged down with paperwork or the administrative burdens associated with maintaining compliance. Visit us at www.lycos.ltd.uk for more information.

Does your company need a comprehensive one-stop solution for content, tools and services to enable ou to take effective leadership and control of their product stewardship and EH&S compliance activities.

Manufacturers and distributors of all sizes increasingly face challenges that result from globalization in the marketplace and changing international regulatory initiatives. In today’s environment, merely producing an MSDS / SDS is not enough. Quality, accuracy and currency are critical components to fulfilling the original intentions for requiring documentation in the first place. This has a direct effect on the company’s ability to efficiently and effectively produce and maintain currency of MSDSs / SDSs, labels and hazard communication documents for their products. Effective, compliant and up-to-date documents—especially MSDS software / SDSs—are not only a global requirement, but serve as the critical centerpiece for enabling effective product stewardship practices throughout the product’s lifecycle.

How you approach this challenge will vary from company to company.
You may be in a position where your company has limited resources and needs to fully outsource MSDS / SDS authoring activities?
You may need additional support during the inevitable ebb and flow of workload?
Or do you simply need MSDS / SDS software to support your own staff?

The Benefits of Employing Authoring or Co-Authoring Services

Keeping up with the timely creation and distribution of compliant MSDSs and label documents is always a challenge. First off theres budget cuts, reduced or reallocated resources, a merger or acquisition, lack of regulatory standardization, GHS, REACH, and stricter global enforcement.

Add in the global business worlds increasing emphasis and scrutiny on quality, accuracy and currency and the situation becomes even more difficult and burdensome. There are however, some interesting bits of software being developed for android and iphone – see http://download.cnet.com/

Authoring will need to include the formatting of  MSDSs / SDSs to be compliant with ANSI, GHS, REACH, and all of the major global requirements such as Japan, EU, USA and Canada, producing compliant documents that meet the needs of customers’ most complex requirements, including:

  • Meeting ingredient and hazard classification disclosure regulations in all appropriate countries
  • Multiple-language MSDSs / SDSs, including double-byte characters
  • Providing toxicological and eco-toxicological evaluations and determination, including hazard classification, labeling and workplace exposure limit settings
  • Providing domestic and international transportation determination including air, water and land
  • Authoring Exposure Scenarios for pure substance products as well as for individual components in a mixture

The Co-Authoring Concept

With Co-Authoring Services, you and your provider will collaborate to author and produce (M)SDSs from your authoring system and follow your corporate authoring guidelines and a collaboratively developed formal review and approval process that results in the most efficient and cost-effective solutio.

In short, choosing an Authoring/Co-Authoring Scenario can help you and your company in many ways:

  • Reduced cost structure within EH&S (Environmental Health & Safety) and other functions within the company
  • Improved turn around time based upon demand
  • Quick workload adjustments as needed
  • Freed up internal resources to perform other work responsibilities
  • Productive collaboration with sharing of experience, knowledge, and skills across professional staff
  • Improved global compliance resulting in potentially reduced liability
  • Reduced need for deployment of internal resources to support authoring staff
  • Regulatory expertise maintained in-house